Author Topic: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)  (Read 14971 times)

Happy2bthin4me

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Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« on: May 29, 2013, 10:50:52 PM »
Hello! I'm new to this forum and Fat to Skinny but I'm really liking it so far! I've been following it since this last Friday the 24th and so far I've already managed to drop 4 lbs! That is astonishing for me! I've been on and off Atkins for over 3 years and haven't been able to lose much weight (in fact I'm heavier than when I started to be honest I wasn't very faithful to it). I'm not even that sure what I'm doing differently except that I feel less limited somehow (?) even though I am eating less carbs. I love the concept of "don't feel deprived, just replace the foods you miss with better foods" and I never had that mentality before I guess. I have a pantry full of low carb baking stuff I'm dying to use and I'm feeling like a whole new world has opened up to me again! I can't believe how much better I am feeling already!

As for my goals, I honestly have no idea anymore how much I need to lose because I'm very out of touch with my body image. So I think measurements, sizes, and photos may be what I need to use for assessing my goal. Right now my goal is to get back down to a size 10. I'm a 12-14 now but honestly I think I look better as an eight. That's where I felt my best. However I am realistic - I am older now than before and I'd be ecstatic to be in my size 10 clothes again!

A little bit about me: I am a 38 yr old IT Director for a local government agency and have two of my six kids at home. Two are step children so they live with their mom and my oldest two are grown and in college. My kids still with me are my youngest child (7) and my son who is 17 and graduating on Saturday (yikes!).

I was always a very skinny teen but then I got married young and had three kids back to back (in 3 yrs) which took a toll on me physically. I gained weight after my second child was born and never lost it. Then I got divorced, a few years later, remarried and a couple years after that had my youngest daughter. I gained weight after she was born too. So I ended up about 60 lbs overweight or more. I lost 60 lbs on a pre packaged low calorie diet in '07 but had to starve myself even more than they recommended to make any significant amount of weight shift. I even did a super low calorie "rotation diet" and that worked the best for me but was so hard to stick to! I could just barely keep my weight off with lots of effort and lots of running.

Over those few years I ran about 6 half marathons and one full marathon (which burned me out on running for a couple years) and countless 5 & 10k races. Now I still "jog" once or twice a week but I'm just not that into it anymore. I'm happier to go for a walk or ride my exercise bike and watch a movie. I never did get to my goal weight after all of that. It was a constant, very hungry, miserable and grumpy time for me and I wondered if I'd have to starve the rest of my life to stay slim and run 30-35 miles per week forever.

In 2010 I found Atkins and I started out running about 35 miles per week on induction and felt a good endurance boost from burning fat as fuel instead of sugar (I used to have to eat up to 6-7 of those icky gels during a 10-12 mile training run). I suddenly was able to reduce my gels to 1 or none! That alone was amazing and about 5 lbs came off. My weight loss stopped after that first week and never really resumed. However, I got lazy pretty quickly and I was running slower without all of the sugar. However, I used to justify eating more carbs with "oh ill just run it off". It's a bad trap and I didn't reduce my carb intake when I wasn't running so I still managed to gain weight! So I gradually stopped running altogether. I also managed to gain about 20lbs too.

Thanks for reading! I've been lurking, reading, and learning from this forum and I really like the attitudes here: very accepting, kind, encouraging and not nit picky. I can't tell you how great the simplicity of this program is to me. Now I can eat at home, eat out, travel, and not stress about "What am I going to eat?" What a huge relief! This busy lady is actually creating menus, shopping, preparing meals ahead of time and packaging up snacks and making plans to make beef jerky. I am very impressed with the recipes so far. I made the chicken cordon blue, some taco meat for tacos or taco salad, spaghetti (with shiritake noodles), and roasted chicken ahead of time to eat later this week. My husband said to keep doing whatever it is I'm doing because I seem so happy and am looking good. *smirk* Nice to hear!

I love to cook so I will be trying lots of the recipes I am sure.

Have a great day everyone!

-Michelle

morgan

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2013, 11:39:49 PM »
Hello and welcome Happy2bthin4me (Michelle).  It's always nice to 'meet' a new face, new ideas, new opinions.  Post often - I find this the best way to stay on track.  I envy you your running, I always thought it would give one a sense of freedom. 

The most amazing thing is all the substitutions for 'comfort' foods.  I never thought I could replace my pasta, cakes, biscuits, etc, but with all the recipes around it is so easy.  Not to mention all the amazing people on the forum who are willing to help in any way possible.

Again, welcome - hope to read all about your journey.




Elizabeth779

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2013, 11:47:29 PM »
Hi Michelle and welcome to FTS forum.  This is a great place, and no need to apologize for a long post -- we all post long at times.  It was informative for you to tell your history, and where you stopped with LC, and it sounds like you are off to a very good start.  Do you have the FTS book?  I recommend it.  It's not only a good and interesting read,  but has recipes....and overal is a great book to steer you on your weight loss journey to better health (and that size 8 or 10). 

Keep reading....and keep posting.  Keep us updated how you are doing, and if you have any questions or problems, be sure to post those.  The FTS family does a great job of responding.  Sometimes our lives get really busy, and when that happens and you don't have time for a long catch up post, be sure to just log in and tell the gang how you are doing and what's going on with  your FTS eating.  I call that a "fly-by post", and I've been known to write those kinds of posts just to let everyone know I'm still hanging in there. 

Best wishes for you on your way to success!



mouseissue

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2013, 11:31:46 AM »
Hi, Michelle! :)

I welcomed you to our FTS family yesterday in another post.
But I'll say it again... Welcome to the FTS, family!!! :) :) :) :) :) :)

After 20 years, I retired from IT (as a Lead Systems Analyst) in August 2006 for a health insurance company.
The job was VERY high stress!  I'm so much more relaxed since retiring. :)

Before FTS, I tried most everything (short of surgery) to lose weight.
That included the original Atkins Diet in the early 1970s as well as the more recent versions.
I lost weight with every one... The problem... I would regain all the weight lost plus more EVERY time!

I became type II diabetic with high blood pressure, terrible cholesterol levels, and very high blood triglycerides.
I was taking FIVE different meds to treat these issues! :o

Since I started living the FTS lifestyle back in August 2010, my health has been restored
and I feel 30 years younger! ;D ;D ;D
All my blood numbers are great and I no longer take ANY meds!!! ;D ;D ;D

Exercise is a very inefficient way to lose weight.
However, it is good for our health and well-being.
I walk 5 miles very early every morning and love it! ;D

So just commit yourself to the simple rules of the FTS lifestyle,
and your overall health will improve dramatically... That, I promise! ;)

Tony
What you do today is what matters!




Happy2bthin4me

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2013, 12:50:39 PM »
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I'm so excited about this. :-) I am glad you made it through reading my post - it's really more like a blog entry! Haha!

Tony, thank you for the insight on retiring from IT. Yes it is very stressful. I always get bugged, night weekends - you name it and I don't get paid to be on call! Frustrating when they higher ups still manage to get mad if I refuse to answer my phone on a weekend! *Sigh. I moved away from San Diego to try to reduce some stress ( I used to work for SVPs and the CEO of a computer company and now THAT was high stress. I put on more weight from stress I think than anything else. I think the running helped with stress relief more than weight loss!

Yesterday was a tired day...I have a lot of those and I'm sure it's work related. So no cooking (we had leftovers) I would love to stay home and putter around the house and cook fabulous meals all day...alas, gotta pay my car payment (since I just bought a new car lol). I do this to myself! ;-) However I know I'd get bored after a couple of weeks at home. I do love working. Lately though I miss being home a lot since things are so happy there. We bought this house two years ago now and I love the yard, the grass, decorating and cleaning. It gave me something to be proud of and I'm happy when I come home. I'm actually organized and everything's staying clean (I hadn't cared much to clean at our old house as it always looked and felt dirty anyway) and I am drawn to taking better care if things there. I was a stay at home mom with my first three kids and truly hated it back then but now things are so different. I look forward to retirement and I'm not even 40 yet lol!

I'll figure out a good pace soon. I need to reduce some stress on myself. It's tough when the whole department is depending on you.

Thank you again for the welcome and thoughtful responses! I'll try to post often. :-)

-Michelle




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shawn116

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2013, 12:57:18 PM »
Hi Michelle  Thanks for sharing your story with us  :)  and welcome to the forum family.  Come in and post often, the support is one of the best parts about Fat To Skinny  ;)    I look forward to getting to know you better   ;D

Happy2bthin4me

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2013, 04:52:40 PM »
Thank you, TooSweet! I look forward to getting to know everyone here. :-D

I'm having a stressful day at work...a very ineffectual week so far lol.

-Michelle


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skychant

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2013, 05:56:49 PM »
Welcome Michelle!   I hope you have some size 10 clothes picked out to wear.  It won't be long before those get loose, if you stick with FTS.  It amazes me how fast the fat melts away.  You have made the right decision to choose this lifestyle and be active in the forums.  I wish you continued success!



mouseissue

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2013, 11:32:47 AM »
Hi, Michelle!  :)

Being "on call" was the worst for me too!
After multitasking high priority issues all day every day,
not getting sufficient sleep many nights was terrible! :( :( :(

As a Senior Programmer Analyst, my team employed two-week "on call" rotations.
After I was promoted to my last position, I was on call 24/7 except when on vacation.

It was so bad, at one point, I asked for a demotion.
But management valued my skills more where I was.

Again... I'm soooooo happy to be retired!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Tony
What you do today is what matters!




jay12

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Re: Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2013, 03:22:33 AM »
Welcome to our family and I enjoyed your openness about your life, family, work and goals. We're here for you and don't forget we are here to always support you. I'm so happy myself with Doug and Umpa and all here that last week I read the FTS book again thanking G*d for such a blessing! I love my life more than ever and you will too with all the delicious food and desserts you will be enjoying now with out raising your insulin due to carbs(sugars) in all its forms and you will have a great energy and won't feel deprived like so many other diets. This lifestyle is not a diet so is wonderful. Don't let me talk you to death lol. Welcome! 8);):D;D::):P

umpa

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2013, 09:45:42 AM »
Welcome Michelle :) I am Umpa,Dougs wife.If I can help you please ask. I have a column on the homepage where I can convert your favorite recipes to fat to skinny friendly.Enjoy the forum there are some very special people here ;)

Happy2bthin4me

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #11 on: June 02, 2013, 04:39:18 PM »
Hi, Michelle!  :)

Being "on call" was the worst for me too!
After multitasking high priority issues all day every day,
not getting sufficient sleep many nights was terrible! :( :( :(

As a Senior Programmer Analyst, my team employed two-week "on call" rotations.
After I was promoted to my last position, I was on call 24/7 except when on vacation.

It was so bad, at one point, I asked for a demotion.
But management valued my skills more where I was.

Again... I'm soooooo happy to be retired!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Tony
Tony, oh my I am sooo in the same boat. I was laughing as I read your post because I was just thinking a bit ago, I wonder if they could switch me to part time lol. Nope. I used to run the department by myself (talk about 24/7 on call!) but now I have employees to manage so its even more fun. Luckily its still a small department so its not hard as long as my employees are up to snuff but well...you know how it goes. I do really love my job because I have gotten to build it from the ground up. They pretty much had nothing when I came on board and I had to bring them into the 21st century. It was a huge undertaking (especially by myself) three years ago and its just grown. I love it because I can say, hey, I did that. It gives me a little burst of pride in my work that other jobs just didn't do. They gave me a lot of latitude to accomplish many things. I still have a lot to do but I still run into the usual - red tape from higher ups that think they know my job better than me (I HATE that).

As for food, I think my stress level and the new summer heat cut into my progress a little this week - plus lack of time to cook but luckily I had made several good meals up ahead of time! YAY! I haven't weighed at all this week so I will weigh myself maybe tomorrow to get a good start to the next week. I have definitely felt the difference from my lack of exercise this week. I haven't done a thing! Terrible! I plan to get out for a light jog this evening - that's when it might be cool enough to get it done.

Last week or two I have set out a very lofty goal for myself (not really diet related) about getting more organized. You know, everything has a place and everything in its place...I have not really had that though I am not really messy, just let things pile up and get overwhelming and I have a few areas of clutter I wanted to get taken care of now. So far so good. The cool thing? I started clearing out the clutter and suddenly yesterday the whole family got involved! It was awesome! Now my house is more organized then its ever been since we moved here. I guess I set a trend??? It feels GREAT - no AMAZING!!! I never have dishes in my sink, food is made ahead of time, my laundry gets washed right away, my office is clean, repairs to my house are done, we can have people over and not be ashamed haha.

On another note, my son graduated high school yesterday morning. Wow. I am so proud of him! He's a little bit of a young graduate so he's going to take a year and work and save for college. That makes me nervous as I worry he won't go but I am doing everything I can to encourage him to go. His big sister is in college up in Idaho and she's having a great time. His big brother is in Mexico until he's 21 and then he'll hopefully be attending college too. We will see!

I am really enjoying the recipes on this site because not only do they have less carbs, they are way more tasty! I feel like I have hit the jackpot here. ;-) I made a BBQ chicken in the crock pot overnight (I made my own low carb BBQ sauce) so that is tonight's dinner and then I will make a few more dinners for the rest of the week tonight. It seems to work well for us and my husband is being more supportive of me avoiding bread at least - he's started avoiding it too! We had a birthday party to attend yesterday afternoon after the graduation and I didn't eat any cake or hamburger/hot dog buns but just had good low sugar items. I had hamburger with cheddar melted on top w/tomato slices, red onion, mustard and mayo and wrapped it in lettuce. People were commenting how weird that was but I didn't care it was goooood. I had a hot dog but it was overcooked. Oh well. The hostess was formerly on Atkins and knows I am not eating carbs so she was very accommodating even though she's not low carbing anymore. She told me what kind of hot dog they were which helped me decide if it was okay to eat. I had some strawberries picked out of the fruit salad but left the rest (bananas, grapes, and pineapple weren't worth the carbs for me and no sweeteners were added which was good). Other than that there was only beer or Smirnoff Ice so I just had water. Everyone kept complaining how overly sweet the cake was and they couldn't eat it all - it made their teeth hurt. That made my resolve all that much better that I didn't have any! Yay me!

Well off to relax and get some cooking done.

-Michelle


Doug Varrieur

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2013, 08:53:46 AM »
Hi, Michelle welcome to the family! You've entered this journey with a great attitude and I'm certain you'll do well. Keep it simple, enjoy your foods and don't get hung up on the scale numbers. Your clothes will tell the story and lead you where you need to go.  8)
Keep The Faith, Stay The Course, Spread The Word on Facebook and Twitter  8)

umpa

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2013, 09:01:56 AM »
You did great! Sounds like you are in control of your life! Isn't amazing how much energy you have when you detox? ;)

Happy2bthin4me

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Re: Newbie - Introduction (Sorry, it's Lengthy!)
« Reply #14 on: June 03, 2013, 11:53:41 AM »
Thanks Doug/Umpa (Sherrie?) :-)!

You guys are awesome! :-)

I fit in a 30 min jog yesterday. Felt great and that is saying a lot- running hasn't felt good to me for a while so it was really nice. I stayed indoors  on the treadmill because its already 90 degrees outside! Wow. I do prefer to go outside though- I get to explore! :-)

I am learning to not really adjust my carb intake much for my exercise because its sort of a slippery slope for me...I can justify anything if I really want to and it's holding up my progress. I run because of how it makes me feel not necessarily to lose fat - walking and weights work well enough for that.

Thanks again for the comments on my attitude, I hadn't really thought about it that way! :-) its nice to hear. Sometimes the family gets tired of my "weird food" but it's just how I eat now! I'll have to check in on my progress soon. Forgot to weigh this morning. Clothes fit the same though so far haha.

-Michelle


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